No: computers can't have free will Position #80

Machines only do what they have been designed to do and can't make voluntary, unconstrained decisions that are independent of the influence of deterministic factors. Hence, they lack free will and, therefore, can't think.

2

This view has been held by many since the conception of computing machines. Probably the first published claim of this sort is by Lady Lovelace, who is cited by Alan Turing, 1950, p. 449 and Douglas Hartree in their discussion of this issue in the 1950s. The source of the Lady Lovelace objection is provided in the source book page for box 17, "Computers only exhibit the free will of their programmers."

References

Turing, A. M. 1950. Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind, Vol. LIX, No. 236, Oct. 1950, pp. 433-460.

Hartree, Douglas. 1949.Calculating Instruments and Machines, New York.

Free will: The ability to make voluntary unconstrained decisions. Freely made decisions are independent of the influence of such deterministic factors as genetics (nature) and conditioning (nurture).

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▲Map HomeArtificial Intelligence
▲IssueCan computers think? [1]
■PositionNo: computers can't have free will
●SupportiveArgumentComputers can't do otherwise
●SupportiveArgumentComputers don't choose their own rules
●SupportiveArgumentFree will has infititude beyond deterministic limits
●OpposingArgumentA determined machine can still have free will
●OpposingArgumentComputers only exhibit the free will of programmers
●OpposingArgumentFree will derives from multi-level structure
●OpposingArgumentFree will is a decision-making process
●OpposingArgumentHumans also lack free will
●OpposingArgumentRandom selection produces free will
◄RelevanceNo: computers can't be creative
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Entered by:- David Price
Entry date (GMT): 5/29/2006 9:07:00 AM
Last edit date (GMT): 10/19/2008 7:18:00 PM
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